At some point in the past, before there were terms like “polar vortex,” a man would rise on an exceedingly frigid day, survey the cold and forbidding landscape before him and then reach for the thickest wool pelt in his coat closet as he headed outdoors.

Wearing a fur coat was not only the best way to stay warm, it was the most elegant.

But somewhere along the line, possibly circa 1980, a man wearing a fur coat became an egregious affectation—no longer a simple matter of staying warm. And even more recently, it would seem that the tradition has fallen off almost entirely, even with older ladies and the less savory crowd it’s usually associated with. Perhaps that’s a good thing, because we’re making the case for a revival of gentlemen in fur coats. Especially with all of the puffy synthetic outerwear thick on the ground this time of year, we wouldn’t mind seeing a return to a more graceful way of staying warm.

We couldn’t help ourselves. With the Oscars only days away and awards season coming to a head, we felt honor-bound to weigh in on the subject of style, cinema and the intersection of the two.

So we collected our memories of the past year’s worth of handsomeness on film and tried to nail down exactly what made each film stylish—much like the actual Oscars, we’re breaking down the movie by individual garment performance, not just handing out awards willy-nilly.

The Story: Billy Reid has been applying his Southern dandyism to spectacular effect over the past few years (he’s got the accolades to prove it). And he’s recently unveiled his Heirloom collection, which promises to represent “the highest level of American craftsmanship.” We believe him.

Who to Channel: Sean Connery in The Hunt for Red October; the villain in a Dick Tracy movie; Joe Namath on the sideline.

When to Wear It: When the temperature has dropped below “hell freezing over”; on trips to the Russian countryside.

Degree of Difficulty: High and low. The fur collar is a statement, for sure, but it’s also removable, leaving you with a pretty classic winter coat. Add the high-degree-of-difficulty fur collar when you’re looking for some extra intimidation factor or heading to Studio 54 in the year 1975.

No doubt your inbox and just about every menswear site you frequent has made you aware: ’tis the season to be gifting. And, therefore, receiving. (This is geared toward the latter.)

In our ongoing campaign to help you win the holidays, we had our team of menswear research fellows cull every single gift guide on the Internet, pull out all of the best menswear and lay it all out in one handy be-all, end-all guide.

Put all of this on your holiday wish list, if it isn’t already. Or just conspicuously leave this guide open on as many browsers as possible.

And waiting until the first day it’s genuinely freezing to get yourself a new winter coat usually doesn’t end well—you’re either digging through whatever’s left on the racks or subjecting yourself to another year with that old coat that never lived up to expectations.

In other words, the time to find your perfect winter coat is now. And since winter means different things to different people (someone who lives in the Pacific Northwest versus a steelworker in Pittsburgh, for instance), we’ve put together a wintry mix of coats that should have you covered for every occasion.

Anyone not living under a rock for the past few seasons has watched Club Monaco up its menswear game by leaps and bounds. The materials have become more hearty, the cuts more modern, and the vibe: less yacht-hopping-Euro and more #menswear-poster-boy. In the center of this monumental evolution has been a man by the name of Aaron Levine. Since he’s been handed the design reigns, things have taken off—and if these new snaps for fall 2012 are any indication, his star is still rising.

Get a look at more good stuff to come after the jump, and keep watching the throne. (Rest assured, there’s plenty more where this came from.)

Shipley & Halmos’s latest fall/winter lookbook just arrived in our inbox, and as usual, it’s pretty sharp stuff. It’s got at least two of 2012’s signature items—the shearling coat and the unstructured fedora, for those keeping score—and the whole thing is just a little bit brighter than real life usually is.

To give you a sense of what you’re seeing, we’ve broken it down look-by-look after the jump. Take a gander…